Passed: Colorado Amendment 76, Citizenship Requirement for Voting Initiative

Colorado Amendment 76, the Citizenship Requirement for Voting Initiative, is on the ballot in Colorado as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.

A "yes" vote supports amending the Colorado Constitution to state that “only a citizen” of the U.S. who is 18 years of age or older can vote in Colorado.

A "no" vote opposes amending the Colorado Constitution, thus keeping the existing language that says “every citizen” of the U.S. can vote in Colorado and continuing to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they will be 18 by the general election.

The Colorado Constitution currently says, "Every citizen of the United States who has attained the age of eighteen years, has resided in this state for such a time as may be prescribed by law, and has been duly registered as a voter if required by law shall be qualified to vote at all elections."

Under the ballot measure, the Colorado Constitution would say, "Only a citizen of the United States who has attained the age of eighteen years, has resided in this state for such a time as may be prescribed by law, and has been duly registered as a voter if required by law shall be qualified to vote at all elections."

Joe Stengel, a former Republican state representative from Littleton, said there's ambiguity in the state's Constitution and in court interpretation of the definition between being a citizen or merely being a resident.

"You brought up that the Colorado Constitution seems to be very clear, well, if you read it, it is not clear," Stengel said. "What constitutes a resident under the statue, you will see that is it up to a municipality to determine residency. We are essentially taking out all of the room for error and interpretation."

Currently, the Constitution requires a voter to be a U.S. citizen and a resident of the state, but Stengel said a person only has to live in Colorado 22 days to be considered a resident.

He said some municipalities elsewhere in the nation have determined that any resident can vote in local elections, opening it up to non-citizens to cast ballots....

"It's a non-partisan issue," he said. "Democrats, Republicans, independents should all be concerned about voter integrity. Opponents can say whatever they want, but who would not be in favor of voter integrity?"

Most of our states’ Constitutions don’t prohibit non-citizens from voting. Through what is called the “non-citizen” loophole, cities across America are passing laws to allow non-citizens to vote in our elections. It’s time to close this loophole and give legal protections to citizen voting.